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Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Cool Factor

Sooooo Idaho gets pretty cold(for me). Last week our highs were in the 20's, and my job involves quite a bit of time outside supervising recess. I'm learning there are a handful of things one doesn't even fathom until really truly working/living in the cold. (No my time on exchange doesn't count. I lived in this happy on campus bubble.)

1.) Shoe SizeS

As in more than one. I've got the shoe size for ballet flats and Tom's and dress shoes with thin socks or a little liner sock, I've got a shoe size for when I'm wearing my wool socks, and I've got a shoe size for when I'm wearing wool socks and have toe warmers. This has made the debacle of choosing winter boots all the more interesting.

Wiggle room. Be sure to have some in your clothes. When you're getting ready for a full frigid day outside one must be wearing long underwear (top and bottom) a long sleeve shirt and a sweater, pants for inside and snow pants for wearing over the top outside. Some people think I'm ridiculous on this one, but snow pants cut the wind and insulate. Cool factor is out the window peeps. So that sweater you got to wear with a cami...its now rather snug with so many layers underneath. And those pants that make your butt look great? If they show off your butt they're too tight for this layer business.

4.) Frozen Wood Chips

This my dear friends is a bizarre sensation. Woodchips normally get everywhere. On the clothes, in the shoes... when they're frozen they just clump together! They can be broken apart, and even come away in chunks. They're like a dense, mildly spongy, mat. The beauty is that when they're frozen the cling factor of wood chips is reduced dramatically, and they don't get in your shoes!

5.) The Hair
Ah, the symptoms of cold weather hair are generally a result of consistent hatting.
-static (dry air, lots of wool, static!)
-consistently mussed looking
-even if I've washed my hair THAT morning, when I get home after a day of hat application and removal my hair looks like I haven't showered for a week!

Coping mechanism: Braids. Lots of braids. Especially french braids. I braid my hair damp, to keep all wispies in. I wrap my head in a scarf at night to make said braids last longer.

6.) Frosty the Windshields
We're back to parking our cars outside and now time is to be allowed for warming up the car and scraping off the windshield. This always evades my mind until I walk out to my car and it needs to happen. Our clocks are all set to be 6 minutes fast now.